How do you step from the top of a 100-foot pole?

"You who sit on the top of a hundred foot pole,

Although you have entered the way, it is not genuine.

Take a step from the top of the pole

And worlds of the Ten Directions are your total body."

(Shih-shuang, in Bobrow, 1990)

This poem is part of a collection of 48 Chan (Zen) koans compiled in the early 13th century by the Chinese Zen master Wumen Hui-k’ai (無門慧開), who lived during 1183-1260.  A koan is a primary historic part of Zen Buddhism, which consists of story, dialogue, question or statement.  The meaning cannot be understood by rational thinking, but rather through intuition. 

This poem is of the opinion that once you are on top of a 100-foot pole (metaphorically speaking), you might think that you have achieved all you needed to.  It states that you have to climb off of the 100-foot pole and you will find ten other directions you can focus your life on.

But why would you want to step from the top of a 100-foot pole when you are at the top of your game?  How do you figure out what you have to do next?  Will you EVER be able to stop “stepping off”?  These are just some of the many questions which jump to mind.

It’s much easier to stay on top of the 100-foot pole.  You are above everything else.  You have the perfect view.  You are all that matters.  The people who helped you reach your goal are forgotten and you are under the impression that you are as happy as you will ever be.

I think the poem has different meanings for different people.  It depends on your culture, beliefs, religion, who you are and where you are at a specific moment in your life.  To me staying on top of the 100-foot pole means that a person grows complacent in life or work.  It means that you do not want to take risks, do not want to move out of your comfort zone and you are hesitant of what awaits. 

I believe that one needs to take chances.  I think I am half-way, maybe even quarter of the way up my 100-foot pole.  When I reached the top of this pole, I am going to step off and start climbing another pole all over again! 

Otherwise, what fun will life be?



Time or Money?

I asked a colleague of mine during this week if she would prefer time or money.  Her answer was … money.

Which one of the two options would you prefer?  With money you will be able to do anything you want.  You will have lots of family and friends loving you.  You will be able to buy the best of everything, never to worry about the next day or even a “rainy” day.  You will be able to travel around the world, do anything you like, ultimately living the good life.   

One day you might wake-up finding yourself at the end of your life.  You wanted to do so much more.  You will never know who loved you for the person you where or who loved you for the money you had.  You would have traveled the world, but could not spend the experience with the people you really wanted to.  You might find that while you were spending, or actually wasting, money on all unnecessary things, there where people around the world that were dying of hunger, thirst or war.  Looking back you will realize that if only you could have some more time.

If you choose time, you might not have money, but you will have everything else which matters in life.  You will be surrounded by people who love you unconditionally for who you are.  You will have time to work on a better life for yourself.  You will have time to look after yourself.  You will have time to do all the things on your “bucket list”.  You will have time to be yourself and love yourself.  You will have time to correct your mistakes. 

Yes, money would be great to have, but would I want it for the right reasons.  If I could choose, I would definitely choose time.  It will be a “nice-to-have” item, when money runs out.

We are what we do

I sometimes struggle to define myself.  We do not know who we are or where we belong.

Yet, it is so simple.  We are what we do.  Taking myself as an example, I am hard-working.  I will always go the extra mile, may it be working late or doing something not specified on my job description or helping out other departments within my organization.  I am loyal and faithful.  I will always come up for my family.  I have been in a relationship for the past seven years and we never took a “break” or cheated on each other.  I have a selected group of friends and won’t ever let them down.  Once my friend, always my friend.  I am a good listener.  I will be able to listen for hours and give advice in certain situations.  I am caring.  I will do almost anything for people I love and to see them happy again.  I am honest.  When asked, I will tell a person how I feel. 

The above is my “good qualities”.  I do have my shortcomings as well. Nobody is perfect.  I am lazy.  Lazy in the sense of exercising or keeping my room cleaned.  I have a temper.  I can very quickly become very temperamental.  I am moody.  One second I’ll be fine and the following you won’t be able to keep house with me (I am able to hide this when I have to be professional!).  I am scared.  I am scared of so many things.  I hesitate before doing everything.  I always think of what can go wrong, instead of the fun.  I am awful with finances.  I will be broke by the middle of the month, as I spend too much the first week of payday (I am working on that though).  I hate conflict.  To avoid conflict, I will almost do anything.   

There you are.  This is what I do and this is who I am.

A tip for the future, when someone asks you who you are or what your strengths and weaknesses are (especially in an interview) sit down and write what you do.  Out of this you will be able to see who you are.  This is what I did and I found it to be much enlightening.

Routines

I am a creature of habit.  Once I form a routine it’s very difficult for me to change it.  It is a great fault of mine.

My routine for my day looks like this:

Alarm goes off at 05:30 to go jogging.

I snooze the alarm until 06:15.

It’s too late to jog, so I shower, dress and do my hair and make-up.

I leave for work and arrive at 08:00.

Work, work, work and leave at 16:00.

As I missed out on exercise the morning my idea is to go jogging, but alas I am SO tired I fall on my bed and watch a series until 22:00.

I go to sleep and in the morning my routine starts all over again, with the exception of class or a dinner date in the evening.

How do I break this horrible routine?  I used to be so good in keeping a healthy routine while I was at school.  After I matriculated I went to study where I had time, lots of time, to follow a healthy routine, but again I formed other routines.  Now that I work and study I also find it difficult to maintain a healthy routine.

I guess it’s just the case of putting mind over matter.  I do hope I can fall into the habit of a healthy routine again very soon as my health depends on it!

We are afraid of the wrong things

What are you afraid of?  I am positive that ALL people in this world are afraid of something.  I am yet to meet someone who is not afraid of anything. 

With its origin known to be in the 14^th century, the Encyclopedia Britannica defines “afraid” as a person being filled with fear or apprehension, a person filled with concern or regret over an unwanted situation or having a dislike for something.

I have a whole range of fears.  I am afraid of death.  There mere thought of dying young or losing someone I love to death is a chilling thought.  I am afraid of the dark.  If you want me to go completely insane, you would lock me up somewhere dark.  Since I was a child, the dark has been something I stay away from.  It might have been the movies I watched when I was a teen or the stories we told to scare each other at sleepovers.  Maybe it’s not the dark, but the fear of the unknown.  (Between you and me, I can’t even watch horror movies anymore … I can’t sleep for weeks!!)  I am afraid of being irresponsible.  In our group of friends I am the little “mother”.  I am afraid of accidents and the pain that goes along with it.  I guess this is also linked to the fear of death.  I am afraid of being alone.  I am afraid of losing love.  I am afraid of growing old.  I am afraid of not being all I can be.  I am afraid of sickness.  I am afraid of the future.

Yes, I am afraid of so many things and my list is not even complete.  Maybe I am what many will call a “scardy-cat”.  I try to not think about my fears, but in certain situations I am forced to.  How do I deal with it?  I close my eyes and believe in the Power from above.

I don’t know if I am afraid of the wrong things.  I am only human.  But what if I am?  What if we are so consumed by our own little fears that we are afraid of the wrong things?  Can someone be afraid of the “right” things?  Is there something like the “right” things to be afraid of?

This leaves me confused and wondering if we are afraid of the wrong things.

What did I want to be when I grew up?

It was such an easy question when I was a child.  We all think we know exactly what we want to be when we grow up, but as time passes our dreams change.

In primary school I wanted to be a pro-tennis player.  My father was an excellent tennis player and we spent our Saturday’s on the tennis courts.  He coached me and I was happy to spend time with him and learn as much as I can.  Although I was a great tennis player on that level, my dream changed and I decided I want to become a lawyer.  I thought it would be great fun to stand in a court and plead someone’s case.  I loved the suites the lady lawyers would wear on the television programs.  It looked so glamorous.  This dream continued well into high school.  Unfortunately I found out a while later than no matter which type of client you received, you had no right in refusing his/her defense.  That completely put me off of becoming a lawyer.

Later in High School I decided I wanted to become a teacher.  I wanted to make a difference and specialize in coaching sports.  I started observing teachers.  Teaching was my main preference until one day I realize that when I start teaching I will grow old at school.  Strange idea, I know, but that changed my mind completely. 

I decided to do cosmetology, until I was on a sports tour in Namibia and my netball coach told me that I was too intelligent to do cosmetology.  It was June of my matric year.  She told me that she sees me in the public relations field.  I didn’t have a clue as to what public relations were at that time.  I got home from the tour, my parents and I did some research and here I am, a Public Relations Practitioner.

I had quite a journey from pro-tennis player to Public Relations Practitioner.  When looking back, I realized that I could have done any of those, but my path was laid out for me.

I LOVE what I do and wouldn’t change it for anything.

Fish falling from the sky

To me, writing this blog, and to you, reading this blog, it seems impossible for fish to fall out of the sky.  We laugh it off as a hoax and go onto the next subject.  What would the case be if I told you this scenario happened more than once in the world’s history? 

The raining of fish has been documented since the 1800’s, with the most recent scenario I could find documented in the remote Australian town of Lajamanu on 2 March 2010.  Fish fell in their hundreds all over the town of 650 residents.  The fish were alive when they hit the ground.  Meteorologists was of the opinion that the incident was caused by a tornado, as it is common for tornados to suck up water and fish from rivers and drop them again.  This however was not the first time residents saw this incident happen. 

There are many theories as to why this scenario happens around the world.  Most of these rains are recognized by professionals as caused by severe storms, tornadoes, water spouts and related phenomenon.  The theory has not yet been proved, but the assumption is that strong winds pick up the fish from water such as ponds, streams and lakes, carry them up in the air (sometimes for miles) and then drop it again.

The strangeness about this occurrence is that, in most cases, the rains are of one kind of animal only.  How can it only rain one species of bass, for example?  If a storm scoops up water from a pond, river or ocean, wouldn’t it rain all kinds of species?

This just shows that we have yet to learn a lot about Mother Nature. 

What is the difference between living and existing?

All people exist, but do we really live?

The Free Dictionary by Farlex defines “exist” as to have actual being or to be real.  It means to have life or to live at a minimal level.  This Dictionary also defines “living” as being in possession of life and being in active function or use.  “Living” also means to be full of life, interest or vitality.  “Living” can also be a manner of style of life or a means of maintaining life or livelihood. 

In my opinion a person can exist, but not necessarily live.  I also believe that there are many people around the world whom only exist.  One might find you asking, “Why”?  Many factors might play a role in only existing, be it a person’s environment, lack of finances, physical harm, disability, certain medical conditions, etc.

To live we need to realize that we only have one life and we need to live it to the fullest.  I, for one, am always SO cautious.  I always find myself asking, “Is it really necessary” or “What will they think of me”.  I am in the process of changing my frame of mind.  I remind myself about the movie, “Yes Man”, featuring Jim Carey.  (Funny, I know!)  In this movie, Jim has to say “yes” to everything asked of him.  I won’t take it to that extreme (yet!), but I am trying to do as much as possible while I can.

So, here is to living and not only existing!!

What is the colour of the wind?

A strange question indeed.  Most people never give the wind a second thought.  It’s just a nuisance, especially if you reside in Cape Town.

For the first time, when thinking about wind as a topic, I felt a connection towards it.  I think of the wind as being blue in colour.  Sounding farfetched yet?  I did some research into the official symbolizing of blue and Kathleen Karlsen is of the opinion that blue symbolizes freedom, strength and new beginnings.

Karlsen is also of opinion that the colour blue has different meanings in different contexts.  Blue can also symbolize the following:

·      Blue skies are emblematic of optimism and better opportunities.

·      Blue is the color of loyalty and faith.

·      Blue is power.

·      Blue is also the color of protection.

Standing outside late the afternoon, I could feel the wind blow, stroking my skin.  When the wind blows around me I feel a sense of all the above.  The wind is free.  It is free to go where it suites itself best and can travel around the world at great speeds.  The wind is strong.  It tears trees from its routes and it can lift roofs of houses.  The wind equals new beginnings.  Seeds are spread across the lands and grow to feed, nourish or protect.  The wind is optimistic.  It brings hope of cooling to those who cannot take the heat.  The wind is loyal and brings faith.  The wind is powerful.  It tears societies into pieces and can bring lands to ruin.  The wind offers protection.  It blows away all the diseases in the air, keeping us healthy. 

At this very moment, when I think about the wind, I can see the flow of the wind in my mind’s eye as an angelic blue.